10 ‘silly mistakes’ that car thieves love

Car thieves in India are becoming very tech savvy. They’re constantly developing new methods to stay one step ahead of any kind of security measure that we may take. After a car is stolen in India, the data from police authorities show that only 5% cars are recoverable. Here are top 10 ‘silly’ mistakes that car thieves want you to make.

Vehicle Keys

Always be super careful on who you are handing the car keys to. You must have noticed at parking spots that someone collects the vehicle key on the pretext of taking care of taking care of the car if it needs to be moved around for making space for other cars to pass.

Avoid handing keys of the car to anyone. They may copy your key and steal the car later with no resistance at all. If giving the key is mandatory, make sure that you’re giving the key to an authorized person and take a receipt for it. Don’t leave any valuable items in the car if you’re handing the key to someone.

Parking

If you are parking in a lowly lit area, it may just attract a lot of attention from car thieves. Low lit areas are the best situations for thieves to operate. The car should always be parked in a well-lit area if parking on the street.

Avoid parking in the corner spaces if parking in a basement of a mall. You should always park where there is a lot of movement by people. Spotting a CCTV and parking near it will further discourage car thieves.

Double check the lock

With the new remote locking systems, we have become a lot more lazy while locking the car. There are chances of the car not getting locked because of loose connection in the remote. Always wait for the locking noise or watch the lights  blinking.

It is always safer to check the car physically by pulling the door handle. It takes hardly any time and makes sure that the thieves do not get easy access to your vehicle.

Spare Key

Getting access to spare key is the easiest way of stealing a car. Never keep a spare key inside a vehicle. The thief may just break the window and find the spare key. Always be mindful of the number of spare keys you have. Always store the spare key at a safe place. If you lose a key and cannot find it, get your locks changed to be doubly safe.

Valet Parking

There have been many instances of cars getting stolen from the valet. The thieves act smartly and gain the access to the keys by saying that they have lost the receipt. Valet parking drivers also have access to your keys and may make a duplicate one.

Such people may also copy the key codes that are used in vehicles with immobilizers to create duplicate keys that would not trigger the alarm. Always park by yourself whenever possible at places where valet facility is available.

Close the windows

The car may become extremely hot when parked under the sun for long hours. People generally keep their windows open to let the air pass that keeps the temperature cool inside the vehicle. You may also leave the car in a hurry and forget to close the window of the car.

Open windows are dangerous in a car. Thieves may use thread to pull the central locking system and gain access to the car. Always keep the windows rolled up unless and until you have your eyes on the car.

Valuables in car

Leaving valuables in the car will attract a lot of thieves. Thieves may break the windows to take your valuables and in the jiffy, they may just take your car with them. Always place the valuable in the trunk or if they are small, place them inside the glove box. A lot of thieves steal the head unit of the stereo system. Open the head unit and keep it in the glove box to be duly sure that the thief would not sneak on your car.

Documents

Make sure that you never leave the registration documents in the car. If the thieve gains access to the car somehow, finding registration in the glove box will just give them a free pass. Always make sure that the original registration is not kept in the car.

Leaving vehicle running

The store is just opposite the street and it will take a blink of a second to get your things and come back to the car. Let the car keep running so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of starting the car again and connect all your devices to the car’s infotainment.

Well, in a blink of a second, someone can just enter your car and drive off. It is very dangerous to leave your car running when you are not in it. Always lock your car, no matter how quick you may come back to your car.

Not having anti-theft device

Thieves are getting smart with technology, they love to see a few set of computers taking care of your car. The modern technology can be bypassed with few codes of lines and smart brains in no time.

If the thief sees a traditional anti-theft device like steering lock or a gear lock, they may just stay away from the car. Such devices take a lot of time to break and thieves do not like cars that take a lot of time to break in. Such devices also make sure that the thieves change their mind even if your car was on their target list.